During Hudson’s tenure, Chewonki has received two Maine Governor's Awards and the Maine Businesses for Social Responsibility's Eagle Feather Award. In 1995, the foundation received a Gulf of Maine Council Visionary Award and Hudson recently completed a one-year term as chairman of the Council's Working Group.

In a recent conversation, he spoke with the Gulf of Maine Times about Chewonki's stewardship mission and his commitment to renewable energy and sustainability. Here are some excerpts from that conversation:

Q: You’ve made a career - a lifetime, actually - of it at the Chewonki Foundation. What keeps you there?
A: I think it’s the mission, which focuses on people and is fundamentally educational. It combines really important things in my life, the study of natural history and a love of wilderness and adventure travel. That’s a lot of what we do here at Chewonki, introduce kids to issues and the world around them. Show kids that it's possible to live with fewer resources, particularly less energy than they may be using, and to use other resources carefully so as not to squander them.

Q: How have your programs changed over time?
A: I think we’ve become more deliberate in our environmental education teaching. Thirty or 40 years ago, we focused more on field ecology. Probably in the last 15 years we’ve become more deliberate in teaching about sustainability. Every student that comes through here has a lesson in renewable energy, as well as going out to the salt marsh.

Q: How many students do you teach annually?
A: We reach about 35,000 students in schools with our traveling programs; about 5,000 each year have a direct experience with a program that originates here in Wiscasset.

Q: Is the emphasis on renewable energy recent?
A: We began to move in that direction in 1993. We were advising the Maine Waste Management Agency. In 1993, they hired us to write a teaching guide. We realized we could reach far more students if we could help their teachers become more educated on environmental issues. That was the start of our Pathways to a Sustainable Future. That's the overall title for the part of our Center for Environmental Education that helps teachers learn about environmental issues. We’ve developed materials for solid waste management, renewable energy and renewable hydrogen. We are now working on water conservation to help teachers incorporate those aspects into their teaching.

Q: When did you begin working on climate change issues?
A: Around 1996 or ‘97, we said we've got to do something here at the foundation. We took a look at our carbon dioxide footprint - all the ways we were contributing to carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and all the ways in which we consumed fuel. We decided the quickest way we could reduce our impact was through fuel for transportation. That’s when we started promoting the use of biodiesel as a way to catch people's attention. Biodiesel is made from material that was a green plant last year. It’s in the annual carbon cycle, so therefore it's basically carbon neutral.

Q: By how much have you reduced your CO2 emissions as a result?
A: Twenty to 25 percent, perhaps more, by switching to diesel vehicles whenever possible, and burning biodiesel whenever we could.

Q: Does the Chewonki Foundation heat its buildings with biodiesel?
A: We have an ability to heat using a blend of biodiesel and number two heating oil. We also heat our largest building with a wood furnace. We’re right at the tipping point now with biodiesel production in Maine. We're close to seeing large-scale biodiesel production in the region. When that happens, we'll contract with those who make it and we'll use it more in our buildings.

Q: What kind of car do you drive?
A: I have a VW Diesel Golf. Probably two-thirds of the miles on it were burned with 100 percent biodiesel and the rest with a blend of 30 to 50 percent biodiesel. I burn 100 percent biodiesel in my car from April to October. After that, it gets too cold. If I were to try to run 100 percent biodiesel into the winter, the fuel would begin to thicken - gel - in the tank and the fuel pump would not be able to move it to the engine on demand.

Q. How much are you reducing greenhouse gas emissions by using biodiesel?
A: The US Environmental Protection Agency has determined that biodiesel made from vegetable oil reduces carbon emissions by 78 percent. My VW Golf TDI averages about 45 miles per gallon. As the odometer just turned 162,000 miles, I have used approximately 3,600 gallons of fuel in the past five years. Biodiesel is 79 percent of my fuel consumption. If I apply that factor to the total potential carbon emissions (73,470 pounds) and then apply the US EPA factor for calculating, roughly, the amount of carbon emissions offset by biodiesel (78 percent), then I can take credit for offsetting 57,300 pounds of non-renewable CO2 with CO2 from this renewable fuel. So 62 percent of my carbon emissions are in a form that is climate neutral.

Q: What are other highlights of Chewonki's renewable energy program?
A: On September 1, we will have inaugurated the first renewable hydrogen installation in eastern North America. The electrical power used to extract hydrogen from well water will come from an array of 42 photovoltaic panels, and certified “green” renewable energy from Maine hydroelectric dams. We’ll be able to demonstrate, we hope in a year or so, the use of hydrogen in fuel cells for transportation - in hydrogen-powered utility vehicles on the scale of golf carts.

Q: What was Chewonki’s involvement in the recent preservation of islands along the Maine coast, in Muscongus Bay and offshore from Stonington to Deer Isle?
A: We came to an agreement with the Island Institute last year to purchase four islands. In addition, Maine Island Trail Association will manage the campsites open to the public on the four islands. We will own and manage the islands and Maine Coast Heritage Trust will hold the conservation easements that essentially keep the islands as open space and also to protect the islands forever in terms of access for camping. On July 30, we will make our first payments and take ownership of the islands. It guarantees for Chewonki that we will be able to have multi-day or multi-week sailing and kayaking trips along the coast forever.

Q: Why is it important for Maine, in general?
A: There is an increasing interest in owning property on the Maine coast, and a lot of property has changed hands. One of the trends as island properties change hands, is the loss of access for the public. We’re really excited about being able to participate in this. The public will continue to have access to these islands.

Q: What are your goals over the next year?
A: We are working very hard on a large capital campaign. We hope to get our endowment up to $10 million - to be used for staff development, as well as financial aid for all programs, long-term stability of our campus, and infrastructure improvements on our facilities to make them more energy efficient and better examples of sustainable devel-opment.
Also, we are working in the local community to help people find ways to get out on the land. Last year we started building a trail that will be about 15 miles long from Chewonki Neck into town. We received about 200 acres through a ratepayers’ settlement with Maine Yankee when the nuclear plant was decommissioned. The 200-acre land transfer was one of the terms of a Federal Energy Regulatory Commission settlement agreement. We built the first four and a half miles of our trail last year. We are getting permission now from other landowners whose land we have to cross, and hope within a year or two the Bay River Trail will be done.

Q: In your experience with young people since the 1970s, is it now easier or harder to instill stewardship values?
A: I think it’s actually easier now than it was then. I think the pendulum is swinging back to where the people, particularly younger people, are more tuned in to making an impact. The first Earth Day was April 22, 1970. Following that, there was a big surge in the study of ecology at colleges and universities. I think we are seeing a similar uptick in interest in the natural world. Now, it seems to be focused on what they, as individuals, can begin to do to find a better balance in the use of resources.

Lisa Capone is a Massachusetts free-lance writer specializing in environmental issues.

© 2006 The Gulf of Maine Times